Childcare on universal credit

[womaninatightspot]

I've only been on universal credit for a few months used to be self employed but covid. I've found a job average 36 hours a week, not great money but decent prospects. I just wondered about claiming back childcare, dc are school age so it's holidays that are my concern.

All I can find is you can claim back up to 85% of childcare costs. I'm assuming there is a taper in there somewhere as I've heard people say they only get 20% etc.

Main concern is going to be summer holidays where I'll earn 1600 quid in assesment period (give or take) and incur 1200 quid in childcare.

I have made appointment with advisor this Friday but I'd like to be able to work it out in advance.

Single parent so just my earnings.

I think you have to pay for it in advance and then claim it back which is a real stumbling block as not a lot of people have the funds to pay for it in advance.

Have you tried the benefits calculators like turn2us, entitled to etc? They have sections for childcare so should be able to give a rough indication of what you would get BUT don’t take these as gospel as they can be incorrect

I think I should be able to put it on a credit card. Poor but still have my middle income access to credit. Affordable credit is a real barrier which keeps many in a poverty trap due to high interest credit.

I have tried the calculators but they don't tell me how much I should be able to claim for childcare. What I want to know is how much can you earn in an assessment period before the 85% that you can claim back is reduced. 1200, 1400,1800 2000?

I'm sort of understanding why people say it's easier to work less It's awkward because most of my childcare costs will be in the holidays but surely that's the case for most parents of school age DC?

Don't do it!! They always fuck up childcare costs for everyone I know, none of them seem to know the rules/make them up as they go/require random evidence the day before the cut off that's near impossible to get, meaning you don't get it back for another month. Certainly don't use a credit card as you will end up in a mess

I'm on UC and claim back my nursery fees.

I have to pay for it when I'm invoiced, then submit a receipt on my UC account and wait until the following month to get it back. I don't think I've ever gotten the full 85% back. It seems to change every month even if I'm paying the same.

There's no rhyme nor reason to it. They cover themselves with the "up to" part of the sentence.

It's so complicated, can't see how it encourages people to work when they can't just publish straight forward guidelines.

Can I ask how much you're earning Cleanqueen and does it vary? I'm concerned as getting paid weekly means some months I'll have 5 paychecks and whether this would mean a massive reduction in childcare.

I earn just under 1k a month, paid monthly, for 24 hours a week with no variation.

Touch wood I've never had an incidence of being paid twice in one reporting period but it does worry me.

I've no idea if I ever get the right amount of money. It seems to be different every month even if the information submitted to them is the same as the previous month.

They don't provide any kind of guidance so that you can work out what you should be getting for yourself.

It's so strange that they don't provide guidance. I asked for support from the flexible support fund to help me pay for childcare in the Easter holidays before I get paid. My advisor told me she'd never requested it before. She was really nice and eventually got me a grant for 240 and authourised an advance to be paid back over 12 months so I could pay for the remainder of childcare upfront and then claim it back at 85%. I just don't understand why all the uncertainty. Surely it keeps people out of full time work if they don't know how much childcare they can afford?

Crazy.

It is awful.

Last month I logged into my account to put in my childcare costs to find a message from them saying they weren't accepting the evidence I'd given for the previous month. No notification of that or explanation for why it wasn't suitable.

Then at the end of the month they told me they owed me money for childcare and paid it but there's no breakdown of calculations, so I've no idea how they arrived at that amount.

I'm constantly worried they'll decide I've been overpaid at some point and claw it back.

It’s simple enough to do but I agree that the amount you get is so random every time!
I pay at the start of each month for the month ahead, then declare the childcare costs on the UC website, and submit screenshots of both the invoice and the online banking payment. Then wait and see how much I get! I can’t predict it.

Crikey that does sound rough. Have you asked them directly to explain to you how they have reached that amount or do they just fob you off?

@cannaethink that's what I do. Different amount gets given every month even if the invoice is the same.

They can't explain why. I don't think humans do the calculations. It's done by a computer and the people you speak to, if you ever manage to speak to someone, don't understand the system either.

Hi OP, I advise on benefits among other things.

UC will cover 85% of childcare costs up to a maximum of £1,108.04/month (assuming you have 2 or more DC).
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/on-universal-credit/check-how-much-universal-credit-youll-get/#h-if-you-pay-for-childcare

The calculation depends on a lot of different things, you could contact citizens advice and ask them to work it out for you, or if you'd be happy to share the info on here we could help.

The main info we would need is:

• whether you rent or have a mortgage (in other words, whether you get the housing element of UC)
• how many children you have and whether they were born before/after 6 April 2017
• whether you have any savings over £6k

4 DC all born pre 2017.

I have a mortgage so I don't get any housing element.

No savings.

Wages should be 1300- 1600 per month. I think the first 512 are disregarded.

Childcare will just be in the holidays so 600 over Easter. 1200 July. 900 August.

The childcare element is paid as another element of Uc in addition to the ones you already get and then wages reduce the whole award. So they will pay 85% of up to a certain amount ( sorry can't remember exact amount), that is paid as another element.
If you have a rent element on your claim the work allowance ( the amount of wages disregarded before wages reduce your Uc ) is £292 and if you don't have a rent element it's £512.

It massively depends on when your assessment period is and what assessment period you pay for the childcare and the assessment period you use the childcare.

I think someone took them to court because it was so unfair and stopped people being able to work. They won the case but nothing has changed. The flexible fund is allowed to pay 100% of your first months childcare - no idea why they only let you claim 85% of that month. When I applied they messed it up and didn’t pay it. It took so much chasing. It was a nightmare.
The childcare ‘pay up front and claim back after / we will only pay it back the payments after it’s been used not after it’s been paid for totally screws women over. especially as such a high % of universal cedar claimants are single mums.

Can’t type. Sorry

@womaninatightspot

4 DC all born pre 2017.

I have a mortgage so I don't get any housing element.

No savings.

Wages should be 1300- 1600 per month. I think the first 512 are disregarded.

Childcare will just be in the holidays so 600 over Easter. 1200 July. 900 August.

Ok so your maximum entitlement is Standard element £409.89 First child £281.25 Other 3 children 3 x £235.83 Total £1398.63 Plus childcare element (I've assumed you're over 25 and neither you nor the children have any disabilities or disability benefits.)

Let's say (for the purposes of the calculation) net pay is £1500. You are correct that £512 is disregarded so that leaves £988. 63% of £988 is £622.44, this amount will be deducted from your entitlement.

So in a month with no childcare element, you'd get £1398.63 - £622.44 = £776.19.

The childcare will increase your entitlement for the next month by 85% of the cost, so the month after you've paid £600 for Easter, you'll get an extra £510, the month after you've paid £1200 for July, you'll get an extra £1020, and the month after you've paid £900 for August, you'll get an extra £765.

In theory!!!

@ExitThisWay

It massively depends on when your assessment period is and what assessment period you pay for the childcare and the assessment period you use the childcare.

I think someone took them to court because it was so unfair and stopped people being able to work. They won the case but nothing has changed. The flexible fund is allowed to pay 100% of your first months childcare - no idea why they only let you claim 85% of that month. When I applied they messed it up and didn’t pay it. It took so much chasing. It was a nightmare.
The childcare ‘pay up front and claim back after / we will only pay it back the payments after it’s been used not after it’s been paid for totally screws women over. especially as such a high % of universal cedar claimants are single mums.

Yes and they won the case, Judge ruled it was illegal as someone earning the exact same but paid at a different point in the month was significantly worse off, the DWP argument was it would cost too much to change the systems I had December to January as a month they thought I'd been paid twice (after the ruling) and still used the same system so Iv had to submit a mandatory reconsideration. It's very rare that my childcare costs are paid accurately and in the correct month so if you do use childcare be prepared to pay it and then fight to get it reimbursed. I have had to contact my MP twice over childcare reimbursement problems.

Good luck (you will need it!)